Ion William Croitoru (December 7, 1963 – February 21, 2017)[1] was a Canadian professional wrestler and outlaw biker, known to wrestling fans by his ring names Johnny K-9, Taras Bulba and Bruiser Bedlam.

As a member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC), an outlaw biker gang, he was convicted of assault, trafficking cocaine and bombing a police station.

In 2005, Croitoru was arrested for the murder of lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband Fred; the charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence.

[6] He grew up in the working class district of East Hamilton and as a teenager exercised at a local gym known as Bad Boy's.

[8] According to the journalist Paul Legall of The Hamilton Spectator, Croitoru only played very briefly for the Rangers, going on to write: "But a coach-who didn't like his bruising style-bounced him and squelched any dreams he had of professional hockey.

[11] Croitoru began his career as a bouncer in a Hamilton bar, and was recruited into wrestling after being observed by a patron who happened to be a wrestler.

[14] Standing six feet tall, shaved completely bald and sporting a Fu Manchu moustache, he was typecast as a heel, who excelled in generating heat (fan anger) by his exploits in the ring.

[15] Croitoru usually showed up in the ring wearing black tights and a collar around his neck, and proceeded to generate heat from the audiences before his matches started.

"[12] Canadian journalist Adrian Humphreys called him a "hugely entertaining and dirty fighter" whose antics made him natural as a heel.

[14] Hamilton was once known as "Steeltown", being a largely working class city made up of immigrants from the British Isles, Italy and Eastern Europe, who were attracted by the high wages offered in the steel industry.

[14] Langton wrote that at the height of his fame, Croitoru "...could barely walk a block in downtown Hamilton without someone offering to buy him a beer.

[9] At trial he stated that the lengthy road trips required by his wrestling career had led him to abuse cocaine to ease the tedium of his existence.

[23] Bedlam and Cornette combined for a victory in a two-on-one handicap match over Armstrong at SMW's Blue Grass Brawl II show on April 1, 1994.

"[23] Cornette stated that he was aware that Croitoru was involved in crime during his time in SMW, but maintained that he was only a petty criminal who liked to exaggerate his importance in the underworld.

[46] Detective Sergeant Len Isnor, the head of the Ontario Provincial Police's (OPP) Anti-Biker Enforcement Unit, was not impressed with Croitoru, saying: "After a while, you can tell who's cut out for the life and who isn't.

[44] Croitoru was especially close to Michel Dubé, the president of Satan's Choice Sudbury chapter, who was considered by Isnor to be the most dangerous outlaw biker in Ontario.

[1] He encountered more problems in late 1996 when he and several friends from Satan's Choice were refused entry to a strip club for wearing their gang's colors.

[60] Besides for his role in the bombing, Croitoru was also convicted of illegally selling steroids, largely on the basis of the testimony of his former friend "Jimmy Rich".

"[62] The police maintained that Croitoru worked as an enforcer and a debt collector for the Gravelle family of Hamilton after he was expelled from Satan's Choice.

[63] Smith stated he saw pieces of the runner's face "smeared all over the wall" and there was blood everywhere as Croitoru had broken his nose, jaw and orbital bone.

[60] After both Smiths were arrested at Toronto's Pearson Airport on February 11, 1998, with some $500,000 worth of hash in their bags while returning from Ocho Rios, they hired Lynn Gilbank as their lawyer.

[71] A key witness for the Crown was a British immigrant and a professional lip-reader who had been paid $20,000 to decipher what Croitoru was saying in a videotape of him talking in a restaurant.

[73] Following this action by the attorney general, both Croitoru and Andre Gravelle announced plans to file lawsuits against people involved with the prosecution.

[72] Bryant appeared on the same show to call the claims of the Gilbank children "false, baseless, scurrilous and potentially libelous and defamatory".

I've been on every extreme in the world-the bikers, I was a wrestler, Major Junior A hockey player for the Kitchener Rangers-I've done a lot of things people can only dream about".

[81] Although he moved to Vancouver to get away from his underworld associates, he proved unable to resist the allure of the gangster subculture, and soon fell in with the United Nations gang active in the Fraser river valley.

[12] Police sources told the author Jerry Langton that Croitoru tried to join the Hells Angels' Vancouver chapter, but they directed him to the United Nations gang.

[83] The police allege that there was a group of United Nations members consisting of Croitoru, Dan Russell, Dilun Heng, Yong Lee, Barzan Tilli-Choli, and Karwan Saed who were also driving down the Kingsway and opened fire on Barber in the mistaken belief that he was Bacon.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly plotting to kill the Bacon Brothers and other members of the Red Scorpions gang.

[88][89] In January 2015, he applied for parole, stating that he had agreed to help with the murders to impress members of the United Nations gang, but that he did not intend to kill anyone.